Silvana
The Silvana is a one-of-a-kind prototype warship developed in Anatoray. History The story of the Silvana begins with the defection of Prime Minister Marius Bassianus along with at least a half-dozen members of the Guild, who fled to Anatoray with a stolen Guild ship. These elder Guild members used their advanced technical know-how to design super-advanced vessels for the Anatoray Navy in return for sanctuary. Their first design was for the Silvana, which would be a high-speed attack vessel that used superior firepower and vanships to overwhelm a potentially superior opponent with speed. To make the vessel even more dangerous, it would be the first ship in history whose Claudia Unit could not detach, making it impervious to interference by the Guild. Through a series of careful maneuvers within the military, Captain Alex Row gained command of the Silvana ahead of many peers from the military academy. Though none knew it at the time, his reasons for doing so were to gain command of a non-Guild-controlled Unit so that he could see out his longstanding vengeance against Maestro Delphine. Being a one-of-a-kind vessel, the Silvana did not fit in with any engagement style of the existing fleet, and was thus resigned to solo duty. This suited Alex fine, as he quickly turned the ship and its crew into essentially officially-recognized privateers. The Emperor of Anatoray became concerned with the level of power Alex Row was gaining, and thus Sophia Forrester offered to join to him to serve as his vice-captain. However, in deference to her role there to essentially spy on Alex, she became his trusted aide and confidant. The pair of them gradually phased in a hand-picked crew. Most were misfits, but all were consummate professionals with the skills that Alex needed to carry out his revenge. Alex was the first to become aware of the Guild's intention to pit the Disith against Anatoray, and started his own personal war against them. Any ship that crosses the Silvana is quickly sunk, giving the ship its well-earned moniker, the "Kill-'Em-All" Silvana. Given that the ship's Claudia Unit is the same one that was aboard Prime Minister Marius' vessel, as well as the fact that the Guild will likely be unwilling to part with any more units, the Silvana looks like it will continue to be a one-of-a-kind vessel for some time to come. With his penchant for independent action beyond the control of the military and the imperial throne, this reality sits quite well with her captain. Description The construction of the Silvana is unlike that of any vessel in the Anatoray fleet. Most of this owes to the fact that the Silvana's Claudia Unit is permanently integrated into the ship, not requiring the room to detach from the vessel (which it won't as it is not under Guild control). This makes the Silvana much smaller than regular warships, and also enables it to carry heavier armor and weaponry while still maintaining its high speed. Bridge The top of the vessel is dominated by twin conning towers. Each has a matching bridge, one fore, one aft. The ship can be commanded totally from either bridge, though is normally done so from the fore. The aft bridge is used in emergencies. Extending above the bridge is a high mast which has a listening post with numerous sounding horns as well as a lookout post. The bridge itself has two levels: the battle bridge and the navigation bridge. Combat is controlled from the battle bridge. The navigation bridge itself has stations for helm, weapons control, damage control, and listening officer. Alex Row's high-backed captain's chair dominates the center of the rear of the room. There is also a navigational table to the side of the room. Below that is the night warfare bridge with the officer's lounge, ready rooms, signal cabin, and chart room. There is also a lower listening post. Unlike the bridges, both the fore and aft listening posts are manned at all times in order to have tactical data of the area surrounding the Silvana. Weapon System The weapons on the Silvana are as unique as the ship itself. The ship's armament employs a propellant fluid system - instead of steam - that was developed in secret. In comparison to Anatoray line vessels, the penetrating force of Silvana's weapons is over three times as much, and its range is about five times. The primary weapons of the Silvana include ten long-range cannons in nine turrets. The forward weapon is two 12" 45-cal guns on a single turret. On either side of the conning towers are eight 8" 50-cal rapid-fire gun turrets. The broadside weapons on the ship are eight 10" 45-cal cannons and ten 8" 45-cal cannons, evenly divided between the left and right broadsides. The broadside cannons have a limited aiming range. An experimental weapon added to the vessel is the jet-propelled shell launchers, a weapon that provides the majority of its acceleration and penetrating power post-firing. As such, the cannons that fire them are very small. Hidden behind the rear armor wedge of the Silvana is twenty-four of these impressive weapons, mounted into six quad-mount arrays. Later on, Alex Row has an identical array of twenty-four jet-propelled shell launchers installed behind the fore armor wedge. Heavy motors open the armor wedge, exposing these weapons. They are used sparingly in combat for several reasons: 1) the jet-propelled shells are very expensive due to their complexity of function, as well as the fact that they are usually fired in volleys, 2) the cannons do not have the auto-loading mechanisms of the rest of the ship's weaponry, having to be reloaded manually, making them a one-time-use weapon, 3) the jet-propelled shells tend to fly in somewhat erratic paths along their original trajectory, making it difficult to hit precision targets or anything at range, and 4) using them removes some of the Silvana's armor protection, and thus the commanding officer needs to wait for the right moment to open the armor plating and fire the cannons. Supporting this impressive array of weaponry is a squadron of five vanships, each equipped with twin machine guns, as well as numerous ports on the ship from which the crew can fire hand-held weapons at targets that get too close to the ship. Armor The Silvana boasts extensive armor, more than twice as much protection as that of an Anatoray line ship. Once again, this is owed to the significantly smaller hull of the Silvana. The entire ship is covered with at least 9" armor plating. What gives the Silvana incredible survival capability is its enormous sidewalls, 15" armor plates that extend over the entire port and starboard sides of the ship. They are quite solid, only having openings for the nine cannons spread along its length. With these armor plates, the Silvana can deliver a rather devastating broadside attack while surviving almost anything short of a capital ship grade torpedo strike. Launch Decks Extending behind the two conning towers of the ship is the upper launch deck. This deck is used to deploy and recover combat vanships. It has an elevator that goes down to the hangar bay. There is also a set of retractable cables embedded in the decking that allow vanships to be tethered to the ship in flight. This enables the vanships to remain close to the Silvana, even during combat and dangerous maneuvers, as well as maintain communication. Down the main lift shaft is the cavernous hangar bay, where the vanships are stored and maintained. The lift continues down to a lower launch deck where ships can be deployed or recovered if it is too dangerous to use the upper deck. This is often the case when the ship is in a firefight, and the top of the ship is dominated by cannon fire. However, landing on the lower deck is also hazardous, as it is dangerously close to the magnetic field generators of the Claudia Unit. Too close to the unit and a vanship is torn to pieces. Crew The crew of the Silvana is largely misfits, hand-picked by Alex Row for their skills. The nominal crew for the Silvana's operation is 248, although it can accommodate a crew of up to 777. Command Crew * Alex Row - Captain * Sophia Forrester - Vice-Captain / First Officer * Arthur Campbell - Second Officer / Helmsman * Wina Lightning - Listening Officer * Lescius Dagobert - Chief Engineer Flight Crew * Tatiana Wisla - Pilot / Wing Commander * Alister Agrew - Tatiana's navi * Claus Valca - Pilot / Tatiana's navi (temporary) Mechanics * Godwin * Gale * Kostabi * Ethan * Lavie Head - Originally Claus' navi * Mullin Shetland Other * Alvis Hamilton - Unofficial Mascot * Dio Eraclea - Prisoner / Later Claus' navi * Lucciola - Prisoner Spelling The Silvana's name is romanized in the show's bumper as Silverna, though not pronounced as such in either Japanese or the English. The official romanization, given in the show material, is Silvana.